


Forgetting and Leaving

by iwant_todie



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Area 77, BAMF Impulse, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gift Work, Happy Ending, Magic, Sad, Watchers, he deserves that tag, season seven, season six, sixfinity, stuck au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25568557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwant_todie/pseuds/iwant_todie
Summary: The Hippies off brand time machine doesn't bring them back to season six. It doesn't work at all, in fact. They have to wait for the updates to bring them back.That, of course, is old news.However, watchers trying to steal Grian is not old news, and Impulse takes offence to that.(Stuck Au is owned by the INCREDIBLE @target-block on tumblr. thanks ray ily)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 218





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> this is going to be uploaded one chapter a day because i finished writing before thinking about uploading it here.  
> Please check out my tumblr to do requests (or commissions?)  
> Target-block: https://target-block.tumblr.com/  
> myself: https://hermits-that-craft.tumblr.com/

It started small. The three men didn’t realise what was happening at the time. Eye colour, the sound of laughter, the way their friends spoke. Impulse sat awake, struggling to remember the way that Zedaph’s face would change when he’s laughing, or the face Tango would pull when he’s concentrating on a prank. Grian would stare into the distance, trying to remember how Mumbo and Iskall’s laughter sounded. It’s worse for Ren, who Grian and Impulse have both found stood staring into the distance, struggling to picture Doc’s eyes and smile.

They talk about it, they do tell the others about how they struggle to remember, but the others can’t help. Sometimes it’s because they’ve never seen it, sometimes its because they can’t remember. It hurts. It’s  _ painful _ , forgetting.

It’s worse for Impulse, who fiddles with the flowers around his wrists wordlessly. It  _ hurts, _ the one thing, the  _ one _ constant reminder of his friends, his  _ family _ is lost, gone forever.

If they ever make it back to the server, he can’t imagine that they’d forgive him.

—

“Uh, shishwammy?” Keralis’ voice is quiet, and the wide eyed man nervously turns something gold over in his hands. “I found something, and I’m not sure who it belongs too.”

There had been a lot of that, over the past few weeks. Best case scenario, it was something someone had dropped. Doc and Scar had been doing that often. Worst case scenario had appeared a few times. A shulker box of Grians, a trinket of Ren’s, Redstone supplies that Impulse had left lying around. Xisuma sighs, hoping to see something that he recognises as someone elses.

“What is it?”

“A bracelet. It’s pretty, I found it before I-” Keralis’ voice cut off, as though he was carefully rethinking his words. “Before I came back here. The season 3 hermits could have lost it.”

Xisuma looks over the bracelet carefully. He has to admit, it is familiar, but he can’t picture why. It’s like he’s forgetting more and more things, not just about the past season but about the missing hippies. It does look familiar, and Xisuma believes that it looks similar to the hairclip that Tango wears.

“We’ll bring it up in the meeting.”

“Spank you Shishwammyvoid!” Keralis says, walking off towards the seats Xisuma put down. Xisuma smiles, hoping that he’s right about the braclet being one of a set.

—

“Hey, Orchid, Rose?” Ren calls out. “A persons here.”

“What?” Grian yells from inside the house. Impulse picks up his sword, holding it tightly.

“A person. Has  _ appeared _ . On my crops.” Ren sounds upset, and Impulse walks over to the window. 

“What the-”

“What do they look like?” Grian asks, walking over to the window. His eyes widen as he looks at the cloaked figure, a mask over their eyes and a smile adorning their face. Grian falls to the floor, trying desperately to forget what he saw, what  _ they _ mean. Impulse looks surprised at Grian, who can’t be bothered to mask his fear anymore. Impulse looks out of the window again before he slowly creeps around Grian, who’s thoughts swirl around his head. He barely hears the door open through his panic, though he does hear Ren yelp, snapping him out of the panic enough for him to look up as Impulse drags Ren into the house they had made.

“Grian, do you know who they are?” Impulse asks quietly. Grian nods, then he stops, shaking his head before nodding again. “What they are, then?”

Grian nods without hesitation. He takes a deep breath in, trying to avoid the expectant look on Ren and Impulse’s faces.

“A watcher.”

—

Tango and Zedaph walk through the portal, or more so Tango rows them through the portal. It would be a funny sight, the final two members of team ZIT rowing through a nether portal on their way to the meeting, until the hermits see Zedaph. Zedaph is wrapped in blankets, his hair messy and eyes tired. He looks  _ terrible _ , and though it’s a clear improvement from when he wasn’t fully with the hermits and could only see out of empty eyes, but its still upsetting. Mumbo and Doc both appear similar to Zedaph, though Iskall is doing slightly better, Stress having allowed him to work on his base. Scar looks over to Doc, and the two men try to make their way to each other before Cub and False seperate them, apologies falling from the pairs lips.

“It’s good to see everyone back here.” Xisuma says, and it’s obvious that he means it. If anyone hadn’t appeared at the meeting none of the hermits would have been calm. Not even if they appeared five minutes late. “I think that we need to prepare to leave this world. We can’t stay here, it’s hurting us too bad.”

“We can’t just give up on them.” Iskall says. “We can’t leave them!”

“We wouldn’t be leaving them.” Wels says, stepping forward. “Because I'l staying behind to wait for them.”

“No.” Doc says, tears in his eyes. “We can’t lose more people. Wels, we  _ can’t _ .”

“You wouldn’t be losing me. I’ll be going to sleep until they arrive. I’ll be fine.”

“You still need to eat.”

“Which is where I come in.” Cub says. “I’ll bring him food once a month.”

“We can’t abandon-”

“Do, we can’t let you have a break down every time you see a line of the HRN.” Cub snaps, and the hermits go silent. “You’re destroying yourself, and you’re only going to get worse the longer we stay here.”

“Why you-”

“Please don’t fight.” Scar puts himself between the two men, his hands on both of their chests. He’s the only hermit brave - or stupid - enough to get between the two men, but it calms both of them down enough. “Did you have more to say, Xisuma?”

It’s clear that Scar wants to stay with Doc, but Cub pulls him away from Doc once more. Xisuma looks between the two men, and TFC pats Doc’s back sympathetically. Cleo winces at the sad look that Scar sends Doc, clearly longing to talk to the man.

“No, the floor is open for anyone to bring anything up.” He says, sending a look to Keralis.

Everyone looks between each other before Keralis stands up. He’s just got back from visiting the season three world after he remembered that he left some things there, and its clear to everyone that he is glad to be back.

“This is only really for anyone who was on the season three server, but I found something that someone left. A gold bracelet.”

Zedaph looks up from his blanket fort standing up with a purple blanket wrapped around his head and shoulders. His eyes are wide, staring at Keralis with tears in his eyes. He stands up, his hands holding the blanket around him. Tango notices, his heart in his throat, as the ring around Zedaph’s finger glows, and he takes his hair clip off, choking out a sob.

The bracelet in Keralis’ hands glows bright, the man staring at it with an astonished look. 

“Where did you find this?” Tango’s voice is full of sorrow, sadness and guilt. Keralis blinks a few times, surprise written over his face.

“In season 3.” He says. “I went back a week ago, I had left some clothes there and I wanted them back. I found it on the ground.”

“He’s dead.” Zedaph mumbles. “He wouldn’t have taken it off he-”

A tear slips down Tango’s face as Keralis gives him the bracelet. The red eyed man turns it over in his hands, rubbing off some of the lose dirt. The glow dims slightly as the engraved words reappear on the bracelet.

_ Team ZIT _

—

Impulse grips his sword tighter, Grian having fully calmed down from his panic attack. Ren leans against Grian as Impulse checks the window. The person, the  _ watcher _ , hasn’t moved, though they stare at him through the window. It must be time to leave season 4, though it feels like they haven’t been there for more than a week. It’s strange, they haven’t seen a watcher before now, and Impulse doesn’t  _ want _ to see one again. He walks to the door, turning to the two men.

“I’m going to ask them to leave.” He says, walking out before he can hear Grian tell him not to. The watcher smiles at him, their face a picture perfect example of nothingness, a blank slate with a smile.

“Hello, player.” They say, their cloak flowing under them. “If you would kindly hand over the blo-”

“Leave.” Impulse glares at them. “Get lost, we’re not hand  _ shit _ over to you. You can go and take your holier-than-thou attitude and get  _ off _ Ren’s crops.”

The watcher laughs wickedly before smiling at him. They take a step towards Impulse and all of the cells in his body scream to run, but he stands stock still, holding his sword tighter. He can see, out of the corner of his eyes, Ren and Grian watching them through the window, and Impulse refuses to let the watcher closer to his friends.

“Fine then.” They say. “I will leave, you will be forced to go through the updates without our help.”

“That’s fine by me. Get lost.” Impulse growls.

“Don’t be rude.”

“Don’t be a bastard then." 

The unsettling smile turns into an unsettling frown and the watcher runs at him. Impulse dives out of the way, rolling into a kneel before throwing himself at the watcher, his sword slashing across their back. They scream, their wings throwing Impulse away from them. Impulse rolls again, kicking their feet out from under them. The watcher kicks him in the chest. Impulse hits the side of the house, the wind thrown from his chest. He ducks under their sword, stabbing at their chest. They block his attack. Duck. Slash. Block. Stab. Kick. It goes on and on before Impulse delivers the final blow to the watcher, his sword entering through their chest and exiting from their back.

"You will never remember what you need to.” The watcher curses him, and Impulse can’t dodge the magic they send his way. He frowns as the magic doesn’t just hit him, but goes through the house and hits Grian and Ren.

“Rose, Daisy, come have a look at what I just did.” Orchid calls, trying to remember his friends real names. Rose comes out, his red sweater in taters, he’ll need a new one soon. Daisy follows him, pulling the hairband out of his long hair.

“Great job Orchid.” Daisy sends him a thumbs up, though he frowns.

“Why does it feel like we’re forgetting something?” Rose asks.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hippies leave season four, Iskall doesn't think, Evil Xisuma finds some people in season 5, Scar and Doc meet up.

Daisy looks up at Rose, yawning as they make their way to the end. The world has been glitching recently, and Orchid nearly died when Daisy transformed, the transformation causing some lag that made everything nearly stop. Orchid clearly didn't want to leave this world, and Daisy doesn't blame him, the world certainly has something that the two men recognise, though its as though they are seeing it through a pane of fogged glass - nothing is clear.

Rose doesn't recognise anything, although they do bring it up with him. He recognises how the world works, knowing things that they shouldn't know about the update, but the buildings don't make sense to him like they do to Daisy and Orchid. Orchid swears on his life that he knows the mansion that they hid in, but he can't remember any of the rooms. A robotic voice calls Orchid Impulse, and calls Daisy Ren. Neither of them don't recognise the names.

They walk over to the end portal, Daisy leading the group as a second nature. Rose shakes nervously as they stand on the edge of the portal, and Orchid pats his back. Daisy pushes them in before jumping in himself, something sad tugging at his soul, longing for a few more minutes. He doesn't understand it.

They land on a obsidian platform, and Rose leads them towards the centre of the main island. He turns around, tugging on the white sleeve of his jacket and smiling nervously. There's no wind in the End but Rose's blonde hair still sways in the breeze.

"Ready to go?"

\---

Iskall lands, his inventory filled with shulker boxes of wood. He is ready to get started on his mega base - a giant tree with a large canopy, larger than life and bigger than all of the jungle trees around him. It's safer to think about building then about his friends. Not just the missing ones - Iskall doesn't trust himself to think about Mumbo or Stress without breaking down. He's gone a week without a breakdown, the longest since -

No, don't think. Build.

Iskall places blocks, planned and timed and he's so /tired/, he wants a break but to let his mind wander is to break his streak. He doesn't think, he just builds. He doesn't even notice it when his axe breaks, nor does he notice Stress as she visits with some logs she had spare. No, Iskall just works. He doesn't think. He just builds. He hardly notices his elytra creepying dangerously towards breaking. He doesn't think. He doesn't notice it as he uses up shulker box and shulker box of wood. He just builds.

He notices his elytra breaking.

Iskall falls towards the jungle canopy, a scream ripping from his throat. His eyes wide open. The world doesn't slow like people claim it would. He doesn't watch, outside of his body, as he crashes onto the grass.

Iskall wakes up in his bed, his heart races as he finally lets himself cry.

\---

Evil Xisuma has been alone, stuck in season 5, for too long. It's painful, thinking of the hermits, but he lets himself stay in Xisuma's base. It's alright, he thinks to himself, it's alright that the hermits left him behind. He's safe here, at least. It's better than the void, cold and empty and falling with no end. He's safe here.

But Impulse, Grian and Ren aren't.

They shouldn't be here, but as Evil Xisuma watches them walk through the shopping district he realises that Ren and Impulse are just as lost and confused as Grian is. They shouldn't be - they built the shops they stop outside of. The ones that they look longer at, spend more time asking about who built it. It confuses Evil Xisuma. 

He could stay and watch them, but he can’t let them walk around as though they have no idea what they are doing. It’s risky, though. The risks outweigh the benefits, but he can’t stand to watch them anymore. Evil Xisuma glides down behind them, landing on the ground with a precision that only someone who’s mastered the elytra can claim. He doesn’t land silently, however, and the three men spin around, Impulse pushing the other two behind him. Funny, Evil Xisuma thinks, he can’t be better at fighting then Ren.

“Woah, I’m not here to fight.” Evil Xisuma raises his hands in surrender as Impulse raises an iron sword to his throat. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Oh, is this your world?” Grian asks, and Evil Xisuma frowns at him. “I’m sorry if it is, the last world we were in was corrupted and I has to-”

“Hermitcraft is corrupted?” Evil Xisuma gasps, looking at them. “Is Xisuma alright?”

“Who’s Xisuma?” Impulse asks him, and there's no hint of sarcasm in his voice. 

“What’s a hermitcraft?”

“It must have been the world we were last on.”

“Of course it is, Grian. Hermitcraft season six, or is it season seven now? Xisuma hasn’t been telling me anything.” Evil Xisuma grumbles to himself.

“My name isn’t Grian.” Grian says blankly. “I’m Rose.”

\---

Scar flies out of the jungle, careful to avoid the areas that he knows have been built in. He and Doc have agreed to meet away from the hermits, to both protect the hermits from what they want to do and to make sure that they aren’t caught. Again. To make sure that they aren’t caught again.

Scar lands in the mining mesa, watching the nether portal as a figure begins to appear in it’s frame. Doc walks out of the portal, some quartz in his hands. Scar can hardly contain his excitement to see the man, and he pulls Doc into a hug. The two men don’t hear the nether portal update, someone coming through the portal. No, they don’t notice anyone else in the area until it’s too late.

“Well, I don’t mean to break this up,” Xisuma says. “But, next time, I’d suggest having your secret liaisons in places where the rest of us don’t go.”

Doc and Scar jump away from each other, trying to make it seem as though they hadn’t planned on meeting here, but Xisuma just sighs, disappointment as sadness in his eyes.

“I had to contact Stress and Bdubs. You two know you aren’t allowed to meet up without supervision-  _ Is that quartz Doc? _ ” Xisuma’s voice begins to shake, anger and fear mixing together. Doc tries to hide it behind his back, stammering out excuses, but Xisuma practically flies over to Doc, grabbing his wrists. “Are you  _ insane _ ?”

“It isn’t what it looks like-”

“That’s a weak excuse,  _ Doc _ , and you know it. Doc, you can’t be serious. A  _ time machine _ ?”

“I had just mined some, Xisuma, I swear!” Doc’s isn’t lying, per say. He did just mine some of the quartz, but not all of it. They had been planning this for weeks. Doc and Scar  _ have _ to find the hippies - it’s their fault that they went missing in the first place. Area 77’s fault.

“Scar, tell me truthfully - Did Doc just mine that quartz?” Xisuma growls, not removing his hands from Doc’s wrists. Scar stands straighter, his back ridgid.

But they had planned for this as well.

“He did, Xisuma. Please, we only planned to meet here so we could talk without people examining our every word.” The lie falls out of Scar’s mouth, practiced to perfection. He walks towards Xisuma, his hand falling on the man’s shoulder. “Please, X. We’re tired of people trying to psychoanalyze everything we say.”

“You called us X?” Stress’ voice is tired, barely containing a yawn. She and Bdubs walk through the portal before they gasp, looking at the scene in front of them, only lit up by the nether portal and the moon.

“Oh, Doc.” Bdubs’ voice is quiet, sad. “C’mon, lets get you home. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong.” Doc growls. “Just because-”

“He and Scar were going to rebuild the time machine.” Xisuma says, letting go of Doc’s wrists. Stress gasps again, turning to Scar with hurt in her face, and Scar feels shame well up in his throat. “Scar can’t lie well, it was  _ obviously _ rehearsed.”

“We’ll keep a closer eye on them.” Stress promises, taking Scar’s hand and dragging him towards the nether portal. “Don’t worry, Xisuma. We won’t let them do anything stupid.”

\---

Orchid doesn’t trust the man, who only introduces himself as E-X, though he reluctantly lets the man follow them around. The name Impulse pushes around his head, confusing and frustrating him. It feels familiar, as familiar as all of the builds they pass do, but he can’t  _ place _ it anywhere. A brother, a doppleganger, a clone, a twin, a coincidence. None of those explain why Ex seems so sad by them.

They arrive on a mycelium island, split down the middle by different shades of concrete. Daisy immediately walks towards a large orange and black concrete building, mumbling something about supplies in the Nether Drive, though neither Rose nor Orchid can work out what he means by that.

They follow him anyways, Orchid keeping a close watch on Ex out of the corner of his eyes. There’s something about him that's familiar, just like this world, that unsettles him. Hopefully he will tell Orchid why he is familiar to him.

“What happened?” Ex asks quietly to him as Daisy and Rose disappear into the building. “Why don’t you remember here?”

“Ex, I have no idea what you mean.” Orchid says, gripping his iron sword tightly.

“I-” Ex cuts himself off. “I’m worried for you, Impulse.”

“Orchid.”

“Orchid,” Ex nods. “Please, what’s your earliest memory. I swear, if it’s something normal I’ll drop this subject.”

Orchid frowns, thinking back onto the moment when the watcher cursed them, though that’s not his earliest memory. His earliest memory is comforting, a warm blanket wrapped around his shoulders, soup in his hands as he sits by a fire, his mother telling ghost stories while his father laughs. When he tells Ex that, the man sighs, taking his helmet off.

“I’m going to head off back to my bro-  _ my  _ base. I’ll be back in the morning. Meet you guys here?”

“I’ll ask Rose and Daisy about it.” Orchid replies, waving goodbye to the strange man. 

He walks into the storage unit before he pauses, frowning at the room. It’s bright in here, not at all like the calming rustic builds that Rose had been making for them. Orchid walks into the middle of the room, where a water elevator waits patiently for him. He enters it, slowly traveling up.

He finds Rose and Daisy on the top floor, beds set up on the floor. Rose looks up as he steps out of the water elevator, a towel in his hand. Orchid gladly takes the towel, yawning as he pats himself dry. Daisy hands him so old looking potatoes, shrugging an apology.

“If they make us sick I’ll take full responsibility.” Daisy smiles at him. “Where’d our friend go?”

“He went to his base. Must be desperate to sleep, when he took his helmet off he looked like Rose when we don’t force him to go to bed.” Orchid smirks, nudging the man.

“Oh come on!” Rose complains. “I’m going to bed, I didn’t come here to be made fun of.”

“Aw, Rose you know I didn’t mean it!” Orchid laughs, and Rose throws a pillow at him. He misses, hitting Daisy in the face. Orchid devolves into giggles, laughing at the shocked look on Daisy’s face.

“Oh it is on my dudes.” Daisy says, picking up the two pillows the are now on his bed. “Give up, I have the higher ground!”

“Never!” Orchid yells, hitting Daisy with his own pillow. Daisy drops a pillow in surprise, and Rose quickly snatches it off the ground.

They fight for a while, ducking and slamming each other with the pillows. Feathers fly and laughter roars through the abandoned islands. Orchid kicks Daisy’s legs and Rose jumps on the man, his pillow perfectly positioned to hit Daisy’s face.

“Rose why, you were supposed to be my brother!”

“Long live the king!” Rose giggles, hitting Daisy in the face. Orchid takes the opportunity to hit Rose across the back of the head and they restart the round, this time Rose and Daisy against Orchid.


	3. Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end, where dreams come true

Wels’ dreams weren’t all that different. Sleeping for months will do that to a person, and though Wels’ doesn’t entirely mind the repetitive dreams, the knight has to admit that they’re getting old. Not that he’d ever complain - he came to an agreement with Cub after the first month that they could swap at any time. No, Wels waves goodbye to Cub, letting the man think that his dreams aren’t predictable, letting him leave Wels alone in season six again. He isn’t mad, he offered this to Xisuma, to the hermits. He knows that this power of his is the only thing that he can trust in this empty world, so as he walks back to his base he lets his mind wander to what Cub told him about season seven. How is Iskall going to collect the amount of leaves he’s going to need for the tree? How will Cub make the inside of the pyramid? Are Etho, Beef, xB and Hypno adapting well to the change? Did the other hermits tell them why they moved to season seven?

Cub wouldn’t answer his questions about it, so Wels assumes that he doesn’t know.

He worries for Doc and Scar. Cub didn’t have to say it, but Wels knows that they blame themselves. Of course they do - even though no one blames them. It’s in the twos nature. Wels is glad that Scar chose a place with a lot of hermits, and he’s even more glad that Doc has Bdubs, even if Cub says that they have been fighting. Doc  _ needs _ someone with him, to remind him that it isn't his fault.

Wels finds his bed, sinking down into the soft bed sheets. He knows that he could spend the month elsewhere, in someone else's base, all he would have to do is leave a sign. He doesn't. Wels lets himself fall into the bed, the same dreams repeating in his head.

\---

Evil Xisuma yelps as the gravel blocks update halfway through his walk. They should have updates minutes ago, sending him down into the cave when he first arrived at the edge of the gravel. His body screams and he pulls out a healing potion, taking a swig.

"You alright Ex?" Impulse - Orchid, now - calls down to him.

"Peachy." Ex lies, struggling to stand up. Orchid glides down to him, hitting the floor  _ hard _ . "You alright?"

"This world has started to glitch too." Orchid, Impulse,  _ whatever _ , mumbles to himself. "Why can't we ever find a world that  _ isn't _ glitched?"

"I'm sure you will, eventually." Evil Xisuma says, "It'll be lonely here without you."

"What? We're going to go to the next update, not a different smp. Sorry Ex, you've been with us for years now. You're stuck with us." Grian, Rose, Poultry Man smirks. "We're not leaving you behind."

"I'm not allowed to go to the next update." Ex says plainly. Ren/Daisy offers him a hand, helping him up. Glowing white eyes stare at them from the edge of the cave. "I've told you a million times -  _ I can't go through the update. _ "

"I could help you go through. I won't be able to meet you all in that world, though." Herobrine says. "I can meet you all in the next one though."

"Why? Why can't you meet us in the next world?" Daisy frowns.

"Don't worry about it." Herobrine gives Evil Xisuma a knowing smile, as though he knows exactly why Evil Xisuma can't go to season six. "I'm sure you'll find more people in the update."

Evil Xisuma pales, panic seizing his throat. Xisuma doesn't want him back, that much is clear. Why would Herobrine send him back if he knew that?

\---

Scar sits on the top of Larry, acutely aware of Xisuma watching him in the distance. He's tired of being watched, but there isn't much he can do to stop Xisuma from doing that. It'll only make Xisuma think that he's planning something.

So Scar watches the sunset, letting his body relax, letting him look tired from behind but not so tired that it's clear he's faking it. Scar's gotten better at lying, or maybe Xisuma has gotten worse at telling the difference, because as Scar stands and yawns Xisuma doesn't do anything. Scar turns, seeing Xisuma on the top of one of his trees.

Caught red handed.

Scar grins, waving at Xisuma, who flies down to Scar. Xisuma lands, nearly falling off of Larry. Scar helps him up, and he notices how tired Xisuma looks. Scar knows that he can't look better, but it's still worrying.

"Did you come for a reason or are you just admiring my build?" Scar asks playfully, ignoring the invasion of privacy, the bags under Xisuma's eyes.

"Oh, uh." Xisuma struggles to come up with a decent answer, and Scar sighs.

"Long day? I know my side of the jungle is relaxing, you should take some of the magical crystals I made - free of charge. Get some rest, X." Scar feels performative, like he's lying to the admin.

"You look like you need sleep as well." Xisuma dodges the request.

"You have a spare inventory in your eye bags. Go sleep," Scar takes a breath in, the humid night air doing nothing to calm his nerves. "You can't be a good admin if you're going to fall over constantly."

Xisuma blinks, his shoulders slumping. "I didn't think you could notice."

"X, if you say that Doc and I shouldn't blame ourselves for the hippies disappearing, then you shouldn't blame yourself." Scar takes Xisuma's hands in his own. "Let yourself rest, or you'll end up under constant watch as well. Trust me, it isn't fun."

Xisuma frowns, his mouth opening and closing under the mask before he nods, taking off into the skies.

Scar will have to work fast to get out, before Cub arrives to make sure he's asleep.

\---

Orchid watches as Daisy and Rose make last minute preparations before they leave. Daisy looks upset at the idea of leaving the netherboard base, though he still doesn't understand how Daisy knew what the netherboard is. Orchid watches as Ex lands with Herobrine, a look of fear on his face as the cryptid tells him about what will happen as they cross the barrier. Orchid doubts that Ex has never gone through an update, but he doesn't blame Herobrine for going over the exact method that Ex would be traveling, given just how panicked the poor man looks. 

Daisy and Rose leave the building, smiling at Orchid, who just sighs.

"Maybe the next world will be nearly abandoned as well so you don't have to go mining, Orchid." Rose suggests, making Orchid smile. 

"Maybe you'll know how to work the farms too!" He suggests to Daisy, who gives Orchid a sad smile.

"I don't want to leave here. I'm not sure why. It feels," Daisy struggles for a word, "like home. Like I've been here before."

"I know." Orchid nods as Ex leads them towards the end portal, still talking to Herobrine about something. The two men seem almost nervous about letting the Hippies know what is being said.

The hippies?

Where did Orchid hear that before? Who told him that? Why does he remember someone calling them that? Why can't he remember what they sounded like? Why can he only think 'green' when he tries to remember them? 

"Orchid?" Daisy asks, his hand on Orchid's back. Orchid clutches his head in his hands, pain blooming behind his eyes, a wither rose against his forehead. "Orchid!"

"Ren?" Orchid -  Impulse ? - Orchid mumbles. "It hurts."

"Orchid, take some deep breaths in, does anyone have a regen potion?"  Grian \- Rose - G̷ria̷n̕R̢os̵e calls out. Orchid tries to take some breaths in, tries to breath. It hurts, it hurts so much. Someone strong picks him up and begins to walk, something is pressed against his lips.

Something makes him black out.

\---

Stress paces around her base, Bdubs and Cub standing nervously in her door frame. She had truly believed that Scar and Doc were making progress, that they hadn't been bottling up their emotions like - like  _ before _ . She will have to sit down and talk to the two men once they get them back, but it's clear that isn't the main problem there.

"Hey guys." False says plainly, landing in the skull. Cleo exits Stress' portal, waving at the group. "I guess we're finding the area 77 boys again?"

"We can't lose more people to time travel."

"Where's Xisuma?" Cleo asks, looking around the room. "Please tell me someone got Xisuma."

"He's coming." Cub says. "I told Keralis, we've been trying to get a hold of X for too long."

"Too long?"

"A minute." Bdubs says plainly. "A minute too long - We need to go looking for them  _ now _ , before they do something stupid."

"Are we late? Shishwammy was asleep." Keralis' voice echoes around the room as he and Xisuma walk towards the group.

"Sorry guys, Scar said that I looked tired." Xisuma rubs the back of his neck, his helmet under his arm. The bags under his eyes go on for seemingly miles. Xisuma looks dead, like a breeze would send him flying.

"He isn't wrong. You need to shleep." Bdubs smiles, though there's clear sadness and guilt in his eyes.

Stress takes a deep breath in, turning to face the wall. She has to come up with a plan, and soon. A hand touches her shoulder gently and she nearly jumps out of her skin, looking up at Cleo. The zombie smiles at Stress, who blinks back tears. A plan. Planning. Stress is smart - surely she can think of something.

"Xisuma, can you find their coordinates?" Stress asks, not looking away from Cleo, who smiles at Stress.

"I can do you one better - I can teleport us there."

\---

"Is he going to be alright?" Rose asks Herobrine as they run to the portal, glitching blocks serve as the only things left that proves that they were even there to begin with.

"Of course, Orchid is very resilient." Herobrine says, standing on the edge of the end portal. Rose freezes, trying to calm his breathing. "Are you alright Rose?" 

"Fine. We need to go now." Rose swallows, but he makes no effort to cross into the end. Daisy sighs, pushing Rose and Ex into the portal. Herobrine sends him a slight glare and Daisy smiles brightly.

"It made them go, didn't it?"

Herobrine laughs, pushing Daisy into the portal before jumping in with Orchid.

\---

Scar and Doc sit, talking around a campfire. Doc throws some quartz into the fire occasionally, listening to Scar as the short man explains his plans for a mega base.

"I'm worried about it being too much, you know?" Scar says, finally relaxed. No one is watching him from a distance, just Doc. "I mean, it is a giant drill."

"That could work in your favour though," Doc points out helpfully, drawing the drill into the dirt. "You could fit a lot of farms into there, it'd keep you busy, and it would show up well on a map. Very clear and obvious."

"Still, I do like working on a block by block radius. I mean, detailing is easy in the micro, macro detailing can get repetitive." Scar frowns. "I don't want anything to look like I've just copied one side to the other."

"But, on the other hand, you are going for an industrial feel. A side could go undetailed."

"I want a divorce. I can't believe you would say something like that!" Scar throws a marshmallow at Doc, hitting him in the face. Doc gasps, catching the marshmallow before popping it in his mouth.

"Do you think that you could get the marshmallow into my mouth?" Doc asks, smiling at Scar.

"I bet I can!" Scar boasts, throwing a new marshmallow at Doc. Doc opens his mouth, diving to catch the marshmallow. He catches it, landing on his side. The two men burst out laughing, Scar clutching his sides as he looks at Doc. Doc lies on the ground, trying to save face with a victorious look, which only spurs on Scar's laughter.

The laughter doesn't last long, a branch snapping in the distance. Despite the calmness of the Taiga forest so far, Doc steps in front of Scar, his sword out and ready to fight any mobs that come their way. Doc doesn't even notice the protective stance, though Scar does, and Scar rolls his eyes, standing up himself. He turns towards the noise, his sword out.

Two people stand, hidden poorly in the bushes. Blonde and orange hair making them stand out against the dark forest. Scar frowns, poking Doc's side and pointing towards the two women. False and Cleo stand out in the forest like concrete in a rustic build. 

"False, Cleo, you two can come out." Scar yells, rolling his eyes. "You aren't slick, it's obvious that you're here."

The two women jump up, surprise written across their faces. False has her sword out, an angry look in her eyes. Cleo's eyes only tell surprise, though Scar can't tell if she's genuinely surprised or just hiding it well.

"Did you think that we wouldn't notice? Can't have five minutes privacy on the hermitcraft server to talk to a friend." Scar doesn't understand why he's so mad, why he's decided now is the time to say something about it. Cleo and False aren't even the people who normally stalk him and Doc, but Scar can't stop the train of anger that he set off. "We aren't fools, we know that if we go to find them we'll be stuck there. Stop treating us like we're  _ stupid _ ."

"Scar," Doc warns him, sending Scar a confused look. "False and Cleo aren't-"

"They were hiding in the bushes,  _ Doc _ . They were sent here. It's obvious. The hermits don't trust us." Scar sends False and Cleo a look that pins the two girls down. Ignored Vex magic screams. "Why else would they be here."

"Scar, calm down." Doc commands, his hand on Scar's arm. "It's not their fault."

Scar rips his arm out of Doc's hand and takes some rockets out of his inventory, taking off into the night air without another word. Doc is right, of course, but Xisuma, Bdubs, Stress and Keralis suddenly being in the small clearing that he and Doc had cleared only serves to make Scar more angry.

He spent so much time spawn proofing the area. Xisuma is sure to rip it out now.

\---

The sleeping man doesn't stir. Not as four new people arrive on his server. Not as the people cry as they struggle to remember where they are, what the place that seems so familiar is called. Why it is familiar. No, the sleeping knight doesn't stir, not even as the evil version of one of his closest friends leads the three men towards the shopping district. He doesn't stir as the winged man struggles to explain the playful, joking hatred he has towards concorp. He doesn't stir as the man with short brown hair checks a bookstore called I-trade for money. No, the knight doesn't even stir as the werewolf breaks down in front of the stock exchange, unable to know the sense of mourning that he has for the building. It's been four years.

The sleeping man doesn't rouse, not as the lost hippies and the evil clone make their way towards hermitville, their sense screaming that it is necessary, though they don't know why. The knight turns onto his back, but he doesn't move as the lost ones exit the portal. His breathing deepens as they walk towards his castle. He doesn't wake as they find him, sleeping like the dead. He doesn't rouse as they scream. He doesn't feel the werewolf's hands on his shoulders, trying to shake him awake. He doesn't stir as the ex watcher tries to use magic to find his name.

His eyes blink awake as Evil Xisuma asks him to wake up, using his name.

\---

Rose jumps back as the sleeping knight throws his arms around Daisy, sobbing into the man's shoulder. Daisy wraps himself into the hug, sobbing onto the knight's shoulder.

"You're back. You're all back, you came back." The knight says, and something clicks in Rose's - No. Something clicks in  _ Grian's _ mind. Memories come back in waves, washing over Grian. Tears slip down his face as Wels pulls him into a hug, holding him and Impulse and Ren. Wels wipes the tears from Grian's eyes before pulling him into a tight hug, chanting 'you came back' over and over.

It's too good to be true.

Grian is  _ home _ .

"Where is Tango?" Impulse suddenly gasps. "Zedaph? Where are they? They must be so worried I can't believe I  _ forgot _ them!"

"You forgot?"

"I, uh," Impulse frowns, racking his brain to find the memory. It's one that he remembered before Wels woke up, but it's buried itself under the newly unlocked memories. "I might have killed a watcher who cursed us on their dying breath."

" _ IMPULSE _ !" Wels snaps, looking at said man with a wide grin. "That's the best thing I've ever heard."

"How did the curse break then?" Ren mumbles, wiping his face with the palm of his hand. "They said that we'd never remember."

"Herobrine said that you all would remember once Wels woke up." Evil Xisuma, Ex, says gently. "I guess it's my time to go now."

"No." Ren says, taking Evil Xisuma's hand. "You're stuck with us. You don't get to leave now, you're stuck with us and Xisuma can deal with it. You're a hippie bro now."

"Bring it in Evil X." Wels says, offering a hug to the clone. "I'll message Cub in the morning, then we can all go to the next season. But you have to explain Herobrine to me."

"Oh he's my Dad."

"Impulse you can't just say things like that."

\---

Cub lands behind Scar, who sits on the edge of a cliff overlooking the hermiatic sea. Scar clearly notices the man, his body tensing and his shoulders shaking, but he doesn't move to say anything.

"Scar," Cub takes a deep breath in, not knowing where to start. "You should have told us, we could have-"

"Save your breath." Scar mumbles, standing. "You wouldn't have changed anything. You  _ aren't _ going to change anything. Just, just take me to your base or wherever Xisuma wants me. I want this day to be over."

“Scar,” Cub takes Scar’s hand, stopping the shorter hermit from walking any further. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not trusting you, I’m sorry for treating you and Doc like glass. We shouldn’t have,  _ I _ shouldn’t have. You’re my best friend, I should have trusted you more.”

Scar turns to Cub, and Cub finally sees Scar’s face. Tear’s stain his cheeks and his eyes hold no anger, just tired acceptance. Scar pulls Cub into a hug, and the two vex men hold onto each other until the sun rises, apologising and talking, telling each other how they feel. Cub falls asleep at some point, still holding onto Scar.

“Now, as much as this is a sight for sore eyes.” Joe says, a dog licking Cub’s face until he wakes up. “I’d rather you two didn’t fall asleep where I want to put my lighthouse.”

Scar rubs his eyes, sitting up. Cub checks his communicator, not expecting anything other than a few angry messages from some very worried hermits.

**Welsknight:** _ Cub, I need you back ASAP _ _   
_ **Welsknight:** _ They’re back. _

“The hippies have woken up Wels.” Cub mumbles, a wide grin on his face. “Wels has the hippies!”

Scar’s face goes slack before he also grins, taking the communicator from Cub’s hands. Joe and Scar read the messages before Scar jumps up, whooping in joy, falling off the cliff and into the ocean.

“Go get them, Cub.” Joe says, pushing Cub’s back. “Go get the hippies back.”

\---

Grian doesn’t know why he’s so nervous. It’s just Cub, and Wels did explain everything to them last night. Ex seems about as nervous as Grian is, not expecting to be accepted as quickly as the Hippies will be. It’s been four years. It’s painful to stay here.

But he wants to. There are so many things the have been left unfinished.

They won’t come back to season 6. Grian never wants to looks at a quartz block again.

"We have to go to the netherhub." Wels says, gently touching Grian's back. "You alright?"

"There's so much we didn't finish." Grian mumbles, pulling his brown sweater closer to him. "This wasn't supposed to happen, we were supposed to come back."

"It's not your fault." Ren says, smiling sadly. "We're going back home now."

"But here  _ is _ home." 

"No, home is where we are." Impulse pushes Grian's side, ruffling the hippie's hair. "Home is where the hermits are."

"Yeah." Grian smiles wistfully. "I'm going to prank Mumbo and Iskall. I'll fill their bases with flowers and chickens."

"I'll set up a base close to Doc. Keep an eye on him." Ren smiles. "I can't wait to see him again."

"Speak for yourselves, Tango and Zed aren't going to let me set up a base unless they can see it." Despite Impulse's words, he sounds happy, as though he can't wait for that to happen.

"How about you, Ex?" Grian asks, turning to the clone. "What are you going to do."

"Apologise to Xisuma and then find somewhere to live, I guess." Ex smiles. "Away from flowers, I  _ hate _ flowers."

"Why do you hate flowers?" Wels asks, smiling quietly.

"He's scared of them."

"Impulse please stop." Ex groans. "You can't keep saying things, I can never leave this place. You've killed me, I'm dead."

"Good."

"Impulse!" Wels protests, pushing the man. "Stop it, he's going to end up looking like a tomato."

"Ha, sucked in Exy!" Grian laughs as they follow Wels through the portal. The heat of the nether doesn't stop the group from joking, Grian and Ren pushing Impulse around while Wels and Evil Xisuma lead the group forward. They all glide down to the giant map, Impulse pushing Grian off the ledge as Cub exits the main portal.

He doesn't look real, not to Grian. Three of the four years that the hippies were missing he didn't remember Cub, and of the first year he was more focused on survival than he was on the hermits that they accidentally left behind. But Cub is here, his beard sporting a few white strands of hair, and his face has worry lines where there was uncreased skin before. He's lost his usual scientist get up, a gaudy pharaoh's outfit adorning his skin, and his more tan than he was before they were lost. But he's here, Cub is taking them home.

Tears roll down Cub's face as he approaches, gently tapping the hippies as though he can't believe that they're back. He steps back, looking over to Wels and Evil Xisuma with a gleeful look on his face before Grian wraps him into a hug. He smells like sand and ocean and grass and  _ home _ , and tears spring to Grian’s eyes. Impulse and Ren wrap themselves around Cub and Grian, joining in the hug. Wels joins the hug as Impulse pulls Evil Xisuma into the hug as well. 

They’re going home.

\---

The hermits stand nervously around spawn, shuffling on their feet. No one was prepared for Cub to leave in the morning, and besides from Joe and Scar, no one knows why he left. Joe called a meeting - Mandatory, emergency : You Must Not Miss This type meeting, though he refuses to say anything about why he called it.

The meeting did give Xisuma, Stress, Bdubs, False and Cleo enough time to apologise to Scar, though Joe had to force it out of them. Scar and Joe stand apart, hopeful smiles written on their faces. The sun ducks behind a cloud as Scar whispers the reason the meeting was called into Doc’s ear, and Doc picks Scar up, swinging him into a hug. No one is told why they are so happy, though Joe’s hopeful grin turns into a large smile.

**_Cubfan135 joined the server_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Welsknight joined the server_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Grian joined the server_ ** **_  
_ ** **_ImpulseSV joined the server_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Rendog joined the server_ ** **_  
_ ** ****_EvilXisuma joined the server_

\---

Mumbo stares at Grian, noticing all the small differences between Past Grian and Current Grian. His hair is longer, his eyes are tired, he looks the same but different, freckles and tans and small cuts litter his face. There’s a burn on his lower hand, hidden under the sleeves of his coat. His coat is brown, and he’s wearing a black t shirt under it. There’s a rose around his wrist.

But the way that he smiles, the way he stands. That’s  _ Grian _ , that’s his best friend.

Mumbo pulls Grian into a hug, barely able to form words. He notices Iskall, hugging Grian tight as well. They’re safe. They’re back. Grian’s  _ back _ .

\---

Doc puts Scar down, walking over to Ren with an incredulous look on his face. Ren’s hair is  _ long _ , tied back in a ponytail, with a blue dress shirt on and a daisy around his wrist. There’s stubble on his face and grass stains on his knees.

“I’m not asleep, am I?” Doc asks, breathlessly. He can barely contain the tears that make one of his eyes go blurry. “I better not be dreaming.”

“You aren’t.” Ren punches Doc’s side lightly. “I wouldn’t let you.”

Doc breaks down, crying into Ren’s shoulder as they hug. He knows this isn’t a dream, even if it feels too good to be true. Ren is back, Ren is safe, and he isn’t going to let Ren go until Ren wants out of the hug. He can’t wait to show the werewolf around.

\---

“I’m asleep again.” Zedaph mumbles. “I’m asleep and dreaming and I’m going to wake up and Tango will ask if I’m crying.”

“Zed,” Impulse has tears in his eyes. He’s got a black sleeveless shirt on with a brown vest, and a sword lays on his side. He’s a lot more buff, stubble rests where he is normally clean shaven. “Zed I  _ swear _ , this isn’t a dream.”

“I know,” Tango’s breathless, holding out something to Impulse. “It can’t be a dream, because you have an orchid where you’re meant to have this bracelet.”

Impulse breaks down, falling on his knees as he cries. Zedaph and Tango wrap him into a hug, letting him release the tears that he clearly needed to. The three men hold each other, not letting go. Not even to eat when Joe brings food at lunch, nor when Stress brings soup at dinner. A point of contact remains as they eat and the three men fall asleep at spawn, tangled together. They don’t want to wake up separated.

\---

“I’ll leave now.” Evil Xisuma mumbles, shifting uncomfortably as Xisuma watches him. “I know I’ve overstayed my welcome.”

“You haven’t.” Wels brushes off Evil Xisuma’s comments. “You’re the one who brought them back. You’re the one who woke me up. You’re the one who broke their curse. Like Grian said: You’re stuck with us now.”

“Curse?” Xisuma says, frowning. “What curse?”

“Impulse killed a Watcher and was cursed to never remember what's important, and the other hippies got the curse as well.” Evil Xisuma mumbles, careful not to let the other hermits hear. The sun sets and though most of the hermits had left, the hippies and their friends had remained at spawn. Scar and Cub also had stayed, Scar apologising to the hippies for more reasons than any had cared to count. “They didn’t even remember their names when I found them.”

“Thank you.” Xisuma says, smiling. “Thank you for taking care of them.”

“It wasn’t just me!” Evil Xisuma raises his hands. “Impulse got adopted by Herobrine!”

“I never said I was adopted!”

“Impulse I will take away your rights to say things again!” Grian smiles as he looks up from the pictures of Mumbo and Iskall’s megabases.

“Yeah man can we have a nice moment.” Ren laughs, watching the stars with Doc. Tango and Zedaph laugh, cooking marshmallows over an open fire.

“Don’t take his speaking rights away, he still hasn’t told us about his family reunion with his Dad.” Tango laughs, picking up a marshmallow and popping it into his mouth. Xisuma smiles, watching the group.

His family is together again.


End file.
